Proverbs 5–7

A Warning Against Committing Adultery

5My son, pay attention to my wisdom.

Listen carefully to my wise sayings.

²Then you will continue to have good sense.

Your lips will keep on speaking words of knowledge.

³A woman who commits adultery has lips that drip honey.

What she says is smoother than oil.

⁴But in the end she is like bitter poison.

She cuts like a sword that has two edges.

⁵Her feet go down to death.

Her steps lead straight to the grave.

⁶She doesn’t give any thought to her way of life.

Her paths are crooked, but she doesn’t realize it.

⁷My sons, listen to me.

Don’t turn away from what I say.

⁸Stay on a path far away from that evil woman.

Don’t even go near the door of her house.

⁹If you do, you will give your best strength to others.

You will give the best years of your life to someone who is mean.

¹⁰Strangers will use up all of your wealth.

Your hard work will make someone else rich.

¹¹At the end of your life you will groan.

Your skin and your body will be worn out.

¹²You will say, “How I hated to take advice!

How my heart refused to be corrected!

¹³I would not obey my teachers.

I wouldn’t listen to those who taught me.

¹⁴I was almost totally destroyed.

It happened right in front of the whole community.”

¹⁵Drink water from your own well.

Drink running water from your own spring.

¹⁶Should your springs pour out into the streets?

Should your streams of water pour out in public places?

¹⁷No! Let them belong to you alone.

Never share them with strangers.

¹⁸May your fountain be blessed.

May the wife you married when you were young make you happy.

¹⁹She is like a loving doe, a graceful deer.

May her breasts always satisfy you.

May you always be captured by her love.

²⁰My son, why be captured by a woman who commits adultery?

Why hug the wife of another man?

²¹The Lord watches a man’s ways.

He studies all of his paths.

²²A sinner is trapped by his own evil acts.

He is held tight by the ropes of his sins.

²³He will die because he refused to be corrected.

His sins will capture him because he was very foolish.

Warnings Against Foolish Acts

6My son, don’t put up money for what your neighbor owes.

Don’t agree to pay up for someone else.

²Don’t be trapped by what you have said.

Don’t be caught by the words of your mouth.

³Instead, my son, do something to free yourself.

Don’t fall into your neighbor’s hands.

Don’t be proud.

Hurry and make your appeal to your neighbor.

⁴Don’t let your eyes go to sleep.

Don’t let your eyelids close.

⁵As a deer frees itself from a hunter, free yourself.

As a bird frees itself from a trapper, free yourself.

⁶You people who don’t want to work, think about the ant!

Consider its ways and be wise!

⁷It has no commander.

It has no leader or ruler.

⁸But it stores up its food in summer.

It gathers its food at harvest time.

⁹You lazy people, how long will you lie there?

When will you get up from your sleep?

¹⁰You might sleep a little or take a little nap.

You might even fold your hands and rest.

¹¹Then you would be poor, as if someone had robbed you.

You would have little, as if someone had stolen from you.

¹²A worthless and evil man

goes around saying twisted things with his mouth.

¹³He winks with his eyes.

He makes signals with his feet.

He motions with his fingers.

¹⁴His plans are evil. He has lies in his heart.

He is always stirring up fights.

¹⁵Trouble will catch up with him in an instant.

He will suddenly be destroyed. Nothing can save him.

¹⁶There are six things the Lord hates.

In fact, he hates seven things.

¹⁷The Lord hates proud eyes,

a lying tongue,

and hands that kill those who aren’t guilty.

¹⁸He also hates hearts that make evil plans,

feet that are quick to do evil,

¹⁹any witness who pours out lies,

and anyone who stirs up family fights.

A Warning Against Committing Adultery

²⁰My son, keep your father’s commands.

Don’t turn away from your mother’s teaching.

²¹Tie them to your heart forever.

Put them around your neck.

²²When you walk, they will guide you.

When you sleep, they will watch over you.

When you wake up, they will speak to you.

²³Your father’s commands are like a lamp.

Your mother’s teaching is like a light.

And the training that corrects you

leads to life.

²⁴It keeps you from a sinful woman.

It keeps you from the smooth tongue of a woman who commits adultery.

²⁵Don’t hunger in your heart after her beauty.

Don’t let her eyes capture you.

²⁶A prostitute leaves you with only a loaf of bread.

Another man’s wife hunts your very life.

²⁷You can’t shovel fire into your lap

without burning your clothes.

²⁸You can’t walk on hot coals

without burning your feet.

²⁹It’s the same for anyone who has sex with another man’s wife.

Anyone who touches her will be punished.

³⁰People don’t hate a thief who steals

to fill his empty stomach.

³¹But when he is caught, he must pay seven times as much as he stole.

It may even cost him everything he has.

³²A man who commits adultery has no sense.

Anyone who does it destroys himself.

³³He will be beaten up and dishonored.

His shame will never be wiped away.

³⁴Jealousy stirs up a husband’s anger.

He will show no mercy when he gets even.

³⁵He won’t accept any payment.

He won’t take any money, no matter how much he is offered.

A Warning Against a Woman Who Commits Adultery

7My son, obey my words.

Store up my commands inside you.

²Obey my commands and you will live.

Guard my teachings as you would your own eyes.

³Tie them on your fingers.

Write them on the tablet of your heart.

⁴Say to wisdom, “You are my sister.”

Call understanding a member of your family.

⁵They will keep you from a woman who commits adultery.

They will keep you from the smooth talk of a sinful wife.

⁶I stood at the window of my house.

I looked out through it.

⁷Among those who were childish

I saw a young man who had no sense.

⁸He went down the street near that sinful woman’s corner.

He walked toward her house.

⁹The sun had gone down. Day was fading.

The darkness of night was falling.

¹⁰A woman came out to meet him.

She was dressed like a prostitute and had a clever plan.

¹¹She was a loud and pushy woman.

She never stayed at home.

¹²Sometimes in the streets, sometimes at other places,

at every corner she would wait.

¹³She took hold of the young man and kissed him.

With a bold face she spoke to him.

¹⁴She said, “At home I have meat left over from my offerings.

Today I offered what I had promised I would.

¹⁵So I came out to meet you.

I looked for you. And I have found you!

¹⁶I have covered my bed

with colored sheets from Egypt.

¹⁷I’ve perfumed my bed with spices.

I used myrrh, aloes and cinnamon.

¹⁸Come, let’s drink our fill of love until morning.

Let’s enjoy ourselves by having sex!

¹⁹My husband isn’t home.

He’s gone on a long journey.

²⁰He took his bag full of money.

He won’t be home for several days.”

²¹She led him down the wrong path with her clever words.

She charmed him with her smooth talk.

²²All at once he followed her.

He was like an ox going to be killed.

He was like a deer stepping into a trap

²³until an arrow struck its liver.

He was like a bird rushing into a trap.

Little did he know it would cost him his life!

²⁴My sons, listen to me.

Pay attention to what I say.

²⁵Don’t let your hearts turn to her ways.

Don’t step onto her paths.

²⁶She has brought down a lot of men.

She has killed a huge crowd.

²⁷Her house is a road to the grave.

It leads down to the place of the dead.